The current â€œfinancial meltdownâ€ has exacerbated the ongoing crises within the university,resulting in even greater budget cuts, tuition hikes, hiring freezes and layoffs. Responses fromuniversity administrations have been predominantly reactive and have served to fortify theuniversity as an institution of neoliberal capitalism. The administration and others have narratedthis crisis as an external force that, while dramatic in the short run, can nonetheless be managedproperly. It is clear to many, however, that the neoliberal logic that has been used to transformthe university over the past few decades has failed at a systemic level; the neoliberal death spiralhas come home to the university.

In contrast to these reactionary responses, we seek to create a space for collective re-evaluationof the university in crisis as an opportunity for real transformation. Last yearâ€™s conference,â€œRethinking the University: Labor, Knowledge, Valueâ€ (April 2008), sought to challenge thesupposed inevitability of the neoliberal university. As a continuation of this project, â€œReworkingthe Universityâ€ seeks to draw together academics, artists, and activists, to share and producepolitical visions, strategies and demands for building an alternative university in common.

â€œReworking the Universityâ€ seeks to generate a vibrant, political exchange by troubling thetraditional format of the academic conference. To this end, we hope to produce spaces forindividuals and groups from different backgrounds and across a variety of institutionalboundaries to converge. While the conference will include the presentation of papers on thetopic of â€œReworking the University,â€ the committeeâ€™s selection process will prioritize workshops,roundtables, trainings, art installations, film screenings, performances, and other forms ofcreative engagement.

The conference organizing collective has selected several questions and themes that emergedout of the 2008 conference that we will address in various formats. If you have interest inparticipating, please provide us with a description of your proposed contribution. We encourageyou to self-organize a session (i.e. a performance, workshop, roundtable, training, etc.) andsubmit it as a whole. Feel free to use the blog (http://rethinkingtheu.wordpress.com) to helpfacilitate session organizing.

Below is a list of possible topics and we, of course, welcome additional suggestions. Insubmitting your ideas for sessions, please give us as much information as possibleâ€”suggestionsfor themes, other participants and the session format.

The Reworking the University conference coincides with â€œReclaim Your Education â€“ Global Weekof Action 2009â€ (April 20-27: http://www.emancipating-education-for-all.org/). Organizersalso encourage suggestions for additional actions as part of this event.

- Confronting American Apartheid: Access to education- The financial crisis and the university- Counter/Radical Cartographies and Disorientation Guides- Corporate funding and the university- Autonomous/Open/Free Universities- The Poverty of Student Life- Post-Enlightenment Visions: Beyond the Liberal Model- Anarchism and Education- Adjunct Unionization- Organizing Across Campuses, Cities, and Regions- Post-Antioch Universities/the Antioch Legacy- Anti-militarization Movements in the University- Prisons and Education- Undergrad Education Beyond Commodification- Historical Struggles in the University: May â€™68 and beyond- Autoreduction and Tactics for Direct Action in the Workplace- Contemporary Struggles in the University: The Anomalous Wave & Movements in Italy, Greece and elsewhere- Expropriating Institutional Space- Graduate student unionization and Radicalizing the Academy- Anti-professionalization; Anti-disciplinarity- Student Debt- Pedagogy of the crisis- Creating Radical/Open Access Publications and the Politics of Citation

Send your submissions (of up to 500 words) to comradmn_at_gmail.com. The deadline forsubmissions is February 15, 2009.